Arthritis and treatment

BrianBirtwell

Hello all, I am in my early/mid sixties and have had Osteoarthritis for many years. If I remember right, I was first diagnosed with it in my neck in my mid twenties. I have always tried to keep fit and maintain a healthy weight as a way to keep myself moving and mobile. I had surgery on my cervical spine in 2005 due to prolapsed discs, I also had clean up surgery on my lumbar spine in 2016. Unfortunately this surgery did not do much good and MRIs showed that my lower back was back to where it was 12 months later.

I have in the past been on all the usual pain medication up to liquid morphine along with anti inflammatory medication. About 2 years ago I had to stop the anti inflammatory medication due to stage 3 kidney disease. Since then the pain has just got worse and worse. I started getting severe pain in my left thigh when walking, it used to start when I walked uphill, but now starts practically straight away, even on level ground. I was prescribed Gabapentin which did no good so the dosage was increased. Now my GP thinks that the problem might be due to a blocked artery as he cannot feel a pulse in the ankle. He stopped the Gabapentin and I am waiting for tests.

I have other issues that are probably not related like a white blood cell count that increases regularly in annual blood tests before returning to normal after a few months. I also developed a fine tremor in both hands which sometimes increases to violent shaking during things like filling up a kettle. They cannot find a cause for this and MRI came back clear. I also get frequent visual migraines which sometimes turn into full blown migraines.

Sorry for the long post, I am looking for inspiration, especially around diet and ways of keeping fit.

It is good to find a group of like minded people. I would just like to add that I find pain hard to quantify when asked by a doctor. I have been living with pain for that long. Does anybody else feel like this.

Thanks Brian

Chris_R

Hi @BrianBirtwell

Welcome to the online community,so glad you are posting and asking questions.

You say you have had osteoarthritis for years since early twentys and operations on cervical and lumber regions of your spine,also you have develped tremors in your hands especially bad when you are using them to fill kettles and other actions.Which the GP cannot explain so you are under further investigation. You have asked especially for exercises and diet for Arthritis to cope with the pain as your medication does not reach the pain levels you are at.Here are a few links that may help.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/managing-your-pain/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/managing-symptoms/diet/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/

Hope these links help you in some way.Please let us know how you get on and do talk to others on our forums it often helps to speak to like minded people.

All the best Christine